Today’s News

Keck's Exclusives: Hung Takes a Transgender Turn

Hung's Thomas Jane has long maintained a "no gay sex" mandate for his male prostitute character, Ray Drecker, and "that maxim still stands," he says. But when a rival anything-goes gigolo (The Vampire Diaries' Stephen Amell) hones in on Ray's territory in Hung's third season (premiering on HBO in October), Ray inches closer to the forbidden LGBT zone. Mid-season, he'll bed down with a pre-op transgender receptionist named Kyla before contemplating a full same-sex encounter. Kyla is played by transgender actress Jamie Clayton, whose only previous TV experience was cohosting VH1's TRANSform Me.

When Thomas first got wind of Ray's new adventures, "the idea of kissing a man was not a comfortable one for him, but he did great," says creator Colette Burson, who is exploring the possibility of making Kyla Ray's full-time girlfriend in Season 4. "They had to kiss for hours. After his initial shyness, she became a woman for him."

Any insecurities Thomas had disappeared when he arrived on set. "I asked, 'So where's the guy?' and was told, 'That's her!'" he told me at the 2011 Saturn Awards. "There was this beautiful girl who blew me away."

Adds Jamie, "For them to want to do this is great! You can't keep doing vanilla-sex stuff. [Costar] Jane Adams told me she was so excited that Hung was finally doing something a little crazy."